Richard James Rowland BUTLER

BUTLER, RICHARD JAMES ROWLAND (b. Adelaide, SA, 21 July 1905; d. Adelaide, SA, 10 June 1971). CIM missionary in China.

Rowland Butler studied at MBI before leaving for China in 1928 to work in Kweichow (Guizhou) province, gaining an excellent grasp of Mandarin Chinese. In 1933 he married Allison Pike, daughter of Australian CIM missionaries, who did nursing training and attended MBI before returning as a missionary to China after her father, Douglas, was killed by bandits in 1929.

Butler's leadership abilities meant he was soon asked to do administrative work. After 1935 the Butlers worked in evangelism and church-planting in Kweiting and when a church was established they repeated the task at Tuyun. During most of the second world war Butler was superintendent in Kweiyang. He remained in China after other missionaries were evacuated to India and joined the Australian Legation as Chinese Secretary.

He had the foresight to prepare the Chinese church for indigenous control. He arranged that missionary residences be separated physically and in deed from the church buildings so that when the communists took control in 1949 the churches retained their properties and were prepared for leadership.

After the war Butler was a director of CIM, being responsible for the evacuation of missionaries from China in 1951. With the movement of the work to south-east Asia the CIM became the Overseas Missionary Fellowship and Butler was responsible for purchasing properties for the headquarters in Singapore as well as establishing hospitals, schools and mission homes. He was director of the region covering Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

In 1965 and 1970 Butler acted as Home Director while on furlough. He retired in 1971, but died of leukemia shortly afterwards. He was survived by Allison (until 1991) and four children.

Unpublished family history by Allison Butler

MARJORIE KEEBLE (née BUTLER)